Good Fortunes
by Roeskva
Summary: An alien healing device with unknown properties activates and affects Sam just before they escape Netu. The result was something no one could have expected. Sam/Jolinar/Martouf/Lantash
1. A Mysterious Alien Device

Title: Good Fortunes  
Rating: PG-13  
Category: Angst, drama  
Characters: SG-1, Martouf/Lantash, Jacob/Selmak, Aldwin, Jolinar  
Pairings: Sam/Jolinar/Martouf/Lantash  
Summary: An alien healing device with unknown properties activates and affects Sam just before they escape Netu. The result was something no one could have expected.  
Notes: AU missing scene/tag to "The Devil You Know". Written for tokra_kree, round one; theme: "Re-imagine an episode that has Tok'ra in it." What could have been done differently?"

* * *

"Get in position!" Martouf shouted, as he hurried to the wall piece with the lock that controlled the ring transporter. He began working on unlocking it.

Worried, the others all placed themselves in the ring target area. Daniel was supporting O'Neill, since his leg still hurt badly from when he was shot earlier. Sam was helping Jacob walk.

Everywhere around them, they could hear smaller or larger explosions, as the planet began to break up. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the floor, running a few feet and then disappearing under some kind of strange machine standing in the corner of the room. A shower of sparkles came from the device, and it turned on with a humming sound.

"What in the devil's name is _that_?" O'Neill exclaimed.

"Ah..." Sam frowned, getting a memory from Jolinar. "I _think_ it's some kind of healing device. I... believe Bynarr used it when he, ah, got a little too enthusiastic in torturing someone who wasn't supposed to die."

"Cute," O'Neill said, an unhappy expression on his face. .

"It's not Goa'uld technology." Daniel observed.

"No, I get the impression it was something Sokar had found... something left over by the previous owners," Sam said.

"How's that lock coming?" O'Neill called.

"Just a moment..." Martouf answered.

"Almost there, Teal'c," Daniel said, speaking into the Tok'ra communicator.

Martouf continued working with the ring transporter controls, and several more explosions was heard, nearby. More cracks appeared, and the floor started to crumble.

"Marty?" O'Neill said, his voice tense.

Another shower of sparkles flew from the alien healing device, followed by a bright flash. Just as Martouf finished fiddling with the ring control lock and ran to join the others, something resembling a lightning bolt shot straight out from the healing machine, and hit Sam in the neck-area, then seemingly held her in place.

Sam gasped loudly. The beam let go of her a short time later, and she collapsed immediately, meaning Jacob almost fell as well.

"Samantha!" Martouf exclaimed, then remembered the ring transporter. "They're activating _now_!" He pulled Sam to a standing position, then held her up. He looked worriedly at Jacob who leaned against Daniel, who was still supporting O'Neill. If any of them should fall outside the ring transporter area...

"We're ready, Teal'c!" Daniel called into the communicator.

The ring transporter activated.

* * *

The rings arrived on the teltac, depositing Sam, Martouf/Lantash, Daniel, O'Neill, and Jacob, who fell to the floor as soon as he was aboard.

"They're here! Go! Go! Go!" Aldwin shouted, before running to help Jacob and the others.

Teal'c piloted the ship away from the disintegrating moon Netu, and Sokar's mothership that was firing at them. However, moments later Netu exploded, and Sokar's ha'tak was destroyed with it, while the teltac made it away safely.

* * *

"What's happened to Carter?" O'Neill asked, worried, from where Daniel had helped him to sit on the floor.

"I do not know." Martouf said, frowning. He handed Aldwin the vial containing the strengthening medicine he had given Jacob earlier, then carried the still unconscious Sam to one of the makeshift beds, and put her down. "Some sort of lightning beam let go of her just as I joined you."

"It came from the strange alien device," Daniel told them.

"How is she?" Jacob attempted to stand, and Aldwin quickly stopped him. Teal'c handed him a waterskin, which he helped Jacob drink from.

"You need to relax and recover. I am sure Martouf will tend to Major Carter," Aldwin said, then helped Jacob drink some of the medicine from the vial.

Unhappy, but too weak to argue, Jacob just nodded and sank back down on the floor. He looked towards where Martouf was checking on his daughter.

"She is alive." Martouf held his hand over Sam's forehead, like the Tok'ra often did when checking on another Tok'ra. He frowned. "Her energy signature is different."

"_Energy_ signature? Isn't that something only symbiotes have?" Daniel asked.

Martouf shook his head. "No, Samantha has one as well. It has always been more... _diffuse_ than for a Tok'ra, since all the naquadah from Jolinar is spread out in Samantha's blood. However, right now it is... as if it is more concentrated. More like it would be if she had a symbiote, albeit the signal is weaker." He frowned again. "It is getting stronger, though."

"What could explain that? They couldn't have stuck a snake in her down there, could they?" O'Neill wanted to know.

"No, if Apophis or anyone else had implanted her with a symbiote, I would have sensed it, but I did not notice anything down on Netu. No, this must be an effect of the alien device. Maybe it somehow caused the naquadah in her body to concentrate?"

"The beam hit her neck and back of the head," Daniel said, remembering.

Martouf nodded. "Yes... perhaps that is why." He gave Sam another worried look, before going to fetch a healing device. "Aldwin? Did you bring a healing device as well?"

"Yes, of course." Aldwin got up quickly. "I do not know why I did not think to use it on Jacob and Selmak."

"Could you also tend to O'Neill's leg wound, while I see if I can help Samantha?"

Aldwin nodded and left to find the healing device.

Martouf turned Sam on her side, then activated the healing device, and ran it over her, before focusing on her neck. Frowning, he focused the beam, then gasped and allowed the device to turn off.

"What is it?" O'Neill asked, having followed closely what happened.

"Samantha... is a host." He stared at her in disbelief.

"_What_? Didn't you just say that was impossible?"

"It _should_ be. Unless..." He shook his head. "No, that... that _cannot_ be..."

"The alien healing machine... could it have, uh, brought back Jolinar?" Daniel asked.

Martouf shook his head, then nodded. "No, it is impossible. Yes... I don't know," he admitted. "It _shouldn't_ be possible. Not from just..."

"Just what? Please tell me what it is you've been hiding _this_ time!" O'Neill demanded, too worried to phrase himself more diplomatic.

Martouf's eyes flashed when Lantash came fore, clearly agitated. "We haven't been hiding _anything_! The only thing that remained of Jolinar was the tendrils she had sent into Samantha's brain. They will always remain. However, it would be like regrowing a human from a finger... _less_, even! The device can't have..."

"It's alien. We don't know _what_ capabilities it has," Daniel reminded him.

"True enough." Lantash nodded, looking tense.

"Ah, come _on_! You're not saying the thingie down there resurrected _Jolinar_?" O'Neill exclaimed, trying to stand up. He gave a cry as he put weight on his wounded leg.

"Please sit _still_ until I can heal that." Aldwin said, running the beam from the healing device over Jacob again. The other Tok'ra had fallen asleep from the exhaustion, but mumbled something now and sat up.

"What?" Jacob remembered what had happened. "_Sam_!"

"Relax, Jacob. She will be well," Lantash reassured him.

O'Neill snorted. "I'm sure _you're_ pleased! You'll have your wife again, and she'll force Sam to care for you!"

"How _dare_ you make such insinuations!" Lantash's eyes flared. "Jolinar would _never_ stay in an unwilling host, so if Samantha does not wish to remain her host, then Jolinar will leave her!"

"What are you talking about?" Jacob looked strangely at first Lantash, then O'Neill. "_Jolinar_?"

"Ah, apparently some piece of alien machinery down on Netu resurrected Jolinar. We think," Daniel explained.

"How could it do that? It's been _years_ since she died." Jacob got a distant look on his face for a few moments. "Selmak points out that there would be tendrils from Jolinar in Sam's brain, and that she could _theoretically_ be resurrected from those." He got a dark look on his face. "Lantash... Selmak also reminds you that those tendrils are the only part of a symbiote which contain _only_ the genetic memory the symbiote was _born_ with. It's not... _updated_ during the symbiotes life, like in the rest of the body."

Lantash got a pained expression on his face. "Selmak is correct."

"What did all that gobbledygook mean?" O'Neill demanded.

"That Jolinar may well be alive again, but that she may not be herself. Not _my_ Jolinar. She may be... a _Goa'uld_," Lantash said, a look of anguish on his face. "As she was... before she turned Tok'ra."


	2. You Are Back?

"Why are they still unconscious?" O'Neill wondered, indicating Sam and Jolinar.

Some hours had passed, and Aldwin and Martouf had used the healing devices to heal the injuries of the humans. They had all freshened up a little, and had something to eat and drink, and then spent some time relaxing. Physically, they were feeling better, but the experiences from Netu were still haunting them. On top of that, there was the fact that Sam was now host to a resurrected, probably Goa'uld, Jolinar.

Jacob and Selmak were the only ones that slept, and that was only due to their extreme exhaustion.

"They should not still be unconscious," Martouf said, getting up from where he had just sat down. His expression was tense, and he and Lantash had spent the last several hours discussing, their thoughts going pointlessly around in circles.

If Jolinar was indeed Goa'uld again, then they would have preferred she had not been resurrected at all. To face a symbiote who was their mate in body, but very much not in soul, would be even more painful than it had been learning she had died. There was also Sam - how would _she_ handle suddenly being host to Jolinar again - a Jolinar who was a _Goa'uld_. They worried deeply for her wellbeing.

Martouf ran the healing device over Sam and Jolinar again, as he had done many times over the past hours.

"Well?" O'Neill asked.

"Still no change." Martouf shook his head. "There is no physical reason why they should be unconscious. If I didn't know any better, I would say they were blending, but that does not make sense. "

"Why doesn't that make sense?" Daniel said.

"Goa'uld do not blend. They just take what they want."

"Maybe the device caused it?" Daniel suggested.

"That is as good an explanation as any." Martouf looked a little bit more hopeful. "We must hope that is the case - and that Samantha does indeed hold all of Jolinar's memories."

"I thought they weren't accessible?" O'Neill said.

"Maybe not to a human, but to a symbiote they are. If they are blending, Jolinar would reabsorb her memories, and become herself again. She would be _Tok'ra_," Martouf explained.

"Does that mean she'll leave Carter?" O'Neill asked.

"If that is what Samantha wishes, then yes."

"Of _course_ she wishes that!" O'Neill snorted, then relaxed back against the wall again. "Well, let's hope old Jolly gets her memories back, then!"

* * *

It was perhaps an hour later, when Sam made a small sound. Martouf was at her side before she had fully awakened.

"Samantha? _Jolinar_?" He asked, nervously.

"Can you tell if Jolinar is herself? If she's Tok'ra, I mean?" Daniel asked, softly, joining him.

Martouf sighed. "No, not with complete, _absolute_ certainty. Samantha carries Jolinar's memories, which means any symbiote she is host to has access to these memories, as well as Samantha's own. Jolinar could certainly impersonate both Samantha and... herself, as Tok'ra. However, as well as I know her, I _have_ to believe that _something_ would seem... _off_ to me if she did that. I want to believe that I would know it, if she were not truly herself again. Besides, I do believe they have blended, and in that case Jolinar _will_ have absorbed her own memories from Samantha... she _will_ be herself!" He spoke the last part with conviction - as much to convince himself as anyone else.

"It _sounds_ right... I guess you'll just have to wait and see when you talk to her. Still, I assume it won't convince the rest of the Tok'ra - or _others_..." Daniel threw a look in the direction where O'Neill was sitting.

"No." Martouf shook his head. "Only a full examination by Tok'ra healers, and... interrogation by Tok'ra experts, will do that."

* * *

*Samantha?* a hesitant voice spoke in Sam's mind.

Sam tried to speak, but found she did not have control of her body. *You're a _Goa'uld_!* she thought venomously at the presence in her mind.

*No! I am _not_ a Goa'uld! I am...*

*Jolinar. You are _Jolinar_!* Sam sounded disbelieving. *_How_?*

*Yes, I am Jolinar... but I see what you mean. It would seem... I have been dead for almost 1½ years!*

*You have. I have _no_ idea how you can be alive again!* Sam suddenly remembered something. *That odd device in the corner of the room - I think I remember... from _you_, that it's some sort of healing device or machine? It sent out a beam that hit me just before the ring transporters activated. I blacked out almost immediately, and didn't wake up again until now. Do you think it could have revived you? Or... _regrown_ you, or whatever.*

Jolinar was quiet for a while. *Regrown me must be the correct term. The only thing left of me would have been the tendrils I sent into your brain. I do not know how I did not become a Goa'uld, if I was regrown from those!* She shuddered.

*What do you mean?*

*The cells in the tendrils do not contain updated genetic memory like those in the rest of the body, only what we are born with.*

*And you were originally Goa'uld.* Sam immediately realized. *Actually, you were a _very_ powerful System Lord. Why do I even know this?*

*Yes... ah, Samantha, it would seem we are fully blended. That explains why you know about my past... and I, yours. Incidentally, I must have transferred the entirety of my memories to you when I, ah, died... and now I have them again.*

*Fully _blended_? Yes, I see what you mean. The alien device probably caused that too, when it... regrew you.* Sam 'sighed'. *That means you can't leave me. At least not without me going crazy with loneliness. Right?*

*That is essentially correct. Why are you not angry... or _angrier_, at least?* Jolinar sounded very surprised.

Sam pondered it for a few moments. *Partially because I have missed you, partially... I don't know. I don't think I have had time to realize what it means. This is all a bit sudden, and the damn drug they fed me is still making me woozy... or maybe it's you coming back.*

*No, it is the 'blood of Sokar'. You got a very large dose, probably because the naquadah in your blood counteracts it somewhat. They would have had to give you as much as someone with a symbiote would have been given, but you did not have that protection, of course. I am neutralizing it and filtering it out, but it had already effected you, and it will take some time yet before you... _we_, are completely well. It may even have contributed to... making us blend - it blurs the boundaries between memories, thoughts, past, and present - among other things.*

*Maybe... Jolinar, give me control. I promise I will get used to you having control, but I need time. Besides, the others doesn't know you are here, yet.*

*Yes, they do... and Martouf is calling to us both. My sweet, dear Martouf and Lantash!* Jolinar gave Sam control. *Talk to him - but _please_ let me talk to them soon... if they will even talk to me.*

*Why shouldn't they want to?*

*I took an unwilling host. I did... questionable things to escape Netu.*

*He knows about Netu... as you know. I can't believe he would be angry at you for that. There was _nothing_ else you could have done!*

*Rosha thought there must have been. Regardless, Lantash will be angry with me for taking an unwilling host.* She sighed. *Now, _talk_ to them.*


	3. Jolinar, Tok'ra

A little confused, Sam opened her eyes. "Martouf?"

"Samantha?" He had a very cautious expression. "Is it you?"

"Yes. But I realize you can't know that." She sighed, and tried to sit up. The feeling of dizziness increased and she laid down again.

"Are you okay?" Martouf looked very concerned.

"Yeah... mostly. It's aftereffects of the 'blood of Sokar'. At least that's what Jolinar says... she's here with me, though you probably know that. She would very much like to talk to you... though she thinks you may not want to talk to her."

"Of _course_ I want to talk to her! How can she think I would not? She knows I love her, and I have missed her terribly!" Martouf exclaimed, grabbing Sam's hand and squeezing it.

Sam nodded, giving him a bleak smile. "Then I'll let her have control. For a little while. I'm sorry, I'm not completely comfortable with this... yet" She bowed her head, letting Jolinar come fore.

"Jolinar?" Martouf asked.

"Yes." She smiled at him, an expression of equal parts love and worry on her face. He was still holding her hand, and she entwined her fingers with his, before speaking in a low voice, not wanting the others on the ship to hear her. "I love you so much, Martouf and Lantash. I am so sorry for everything that happened. Rosha... Netu... Samantha... I... I do not know..."

"Shhh. We will talk about all that later. Not now. You need to relax. You both do." Martouf leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, before pulling back, sighing. "I am sorry, but Lantash does not feel... certain you are truly our Jolinar, returned to us."

Jolinar gave him a bleak smile. "I would expect nothing less from him. I hope that soon I will have proven who I am, beyond any doubt."

Martouf nodded. "I look forward to that. More than you can imagine."

"Samantha wishes to have control again. She is not yet comfortable with me having control for longer periods of time," Jolinar said. She bowed her head, giving Sam control again.

"_Yet_? What did the snake mean by 'yet'?" O'Neill asked, walking up to them. He looked at Martouf. "You can't really believe it's Jolinar? Just like that?"

"Physically, it can _only_ be Jolinar. There is no way any other symbiote could have gotten into Samantha. The rest... personality, behaviour... she _appears_ to be Jolinar. I must admit I very much _hope_ she is, but I am no fool. The Tok'ra healers will ascertain if she is telling the truth," Martouf said.

"And then they'll get her out of Carter, right?"

"If Samantha wishes it, then Jolinar will leave her, of course." Martouf looked stubbornly at O'Neill.

"It's not so simple... Jolinar and I are fully blended," Sam said.

"_What_?! What does that mean... and why would you _do_ that? Besides, she can still leave you, right?" O'Neill asked.

"It will make it... difficult, emotionally, for Samantha. Also, I do not know how the memories from Jolinar, memories that Samantha has in her own mind, will affect it, especially if Jolinar actually accessed all of them." Martouf frowned, looking very worried.

"I've got _all_ of Jolinar's memories in my mind, and she accessed them during blending. We think it happened automatically after she was... regrown, I suppose. If she left me - aside from the normal problems Jolinar says a former host would have, with loneliness and such - I would be able to access all the memories she left in my mind."

"Meaning you would be completely unable to tell who you are, or which memories belong to who," Martouf concluded.

"Yeah, that's more or less what Jolinar and I think too."

"This means... what?" O'Neill asked.

"Jolinar can't leave me. I'm staying her host," Sam said.

* * *

When they had returned to Vorash, the others escorted Sam/Jolinar to the Tok'ra tunnels, where she would be examined, and where the Tok'ra would determine if she was truly Jolinar, not just in body, but in mind as well.

It took several hours, and when they were finished, Sam was exhausted. Jolinar was still unconscious after the last test, where they had been given a drug that kept a symbiote unconscious while the host could be questioned without risk of interference.

Sam knew that both her team mates, her dad, and especially Martouf and Lantash, were all very eager to hear the results. Therefore, when the healer told her they were waiting for her, she just smiled and said she would talk to them, despite how tired she felt. Afterwards, she would probably go directly to the bed the Tok'ra had prepared for her in a guest room.

She smiled at her team-mates, Martouf/Lantash, and Jacob/Selmak, who stood just outside the doorway to the healers's chambers, waiting for her.

"Samantha, are you all right?" Martouf asked, seeing how tired she looked.

Sam nodded. "Yes, I'm just tired, and Jolinar is still unconscious."

He looked very worriedly at her. "What did you learn?"

Sam smiled reassuringly. "Jolinar is herself - in _every_ way."

"That is so," one of the Tok'ra healers confirmed. "As strange as all this is, the result is that Jolinar is back with us, alive and well - and herself. _Tok'ra_."

Martouf looked extremely relieved, and took Sam's hands. "And you will remain her host?"

"Yes. I mean... I don't have a choice, not really..." She shrugged. "We're getting along fairly well, and the truth is, well, I've missed her so..."

O'Neill snorted. "How lucky for you, Marty! Not only is your wife alive and well again, but Carter is her host, and has to stay that way. I'm sure Jolinar will even make Carter want you!"

Martouf's eyes flashed as Lantash came fore. "How _dare_ you insinuate that Jolinar would _force_ Samantha into become our mate?"

"Well, isn't that how it works? The whole 'we love as one' thing?" Daniel asked.

"Stop it! All of you! Jolinar isn't forcing _anything_ on me, and as for my feelings towards Martouf and Lantash? They are not something I will discuss here, with all of you. It's _personal_, and I'd prefer to talk to Martouf and Lantash in private about that, thank you very much!" Sam said, starting to get angry at all of them.

Lantash squeezed her hands. "Of course, Samantha. If you wish, we could go to my quarters now and talk?"

Sam nodded "I think I would like that, but first I want something to eat... and a bath." She smiled wryly. "I only got a quick shower when we came back, and I still feel like the dirt and smell of Netu is clinging to me."

"I understand. The rest of us have gotten some time to cleanse and relax, while Jolinar and you had to suffer at the hands of the healers and interrogators. I am truly sorry you had to go through this, Samantha," Lantash said, looking intently at her.

O'Neill made a disgusted sound, and turned away, rolling his eyes. "Come, Daniel, Teal'c - let's go see what they've got in the Tok'ra mess hall. You wanna come too, Jacob?"

"No, I'm afraid I have a date with the healers again, and then I'm going to hit the sack early." Jacob sighed.

"Good night, dad." Sam smiled at him. "I'll be staying here for a couple days, at least, so we'll see each other tomorrow?"

"Sounds great, Sammie." He gave Lantash a stern look. "Just remember... if you or Martouf do anything that hurts my little girl, I swear I'll rip out both your spines and beat you to death with them!" His expression softened, taking some of the harshness out of his words.

"Don't worry, Jacob. We would _never_ hurt Samantha!" Lantash said, with conviction. "Sleep well. I promise I will help Samantha find what she needs here in the tunnels, and get used to things here - not that Jolinar can't do that just as well, of course, but she will likely be unconscious for at least another hour, or so."


	4. Together

Sam had gone to take a bath in the public bathing pools, while Martouf and Lantash fetched some food from the Tok'ra version of a mess hall.

She took a very quick bath, since she really did not feel like meeting anyone there right now. She would have liked to relax in a bathtub or a private Tok'ra pool, somewhere she could be completely alone, but unfortunately her guest quarters did not have a pool. She knew Martouf and Lantash had one in their quarters - or, at least they had one when they shared them with Rosha and Jolinar. They probably did not have a pool now. If she and Jolinar ended up living with them, maybe they would get a private pool again?

And larger quarters, Sam decided, as she entered Martouf and Lantash's private rooms. Their quarters were much smaller than the shared ones she remembered had been.

"Hi." Sam gave Martouf/Lantash a slightly awkward smile. She knew they needed to talk, but she did not really feel like it. She _did_ love them, and while she had neither felt sure of herself or ready to admit her feelings before Jolinar had been brought back, she had accepted them now... and admitted them to Jolinar.

Of course, _Jolinar_ loved Martouf and Lantash, and wanted nothing more than to resume her relationship with them, but Sam did not feel certain they actually wanted that. Yes, they loved Jolinar, but what did they feel for her, Sam? For all these reasons, she felt uncomfortable.

"Hello, Samantha." Martouf smiled at her. "I have fetched some food for you. I hope it is acceptable." He indicated the tray of food and drink standing on the small table in the room.

"It looks nice." Sam smiled back. "Thank you. What about you? Don't you want anything to eat?"

"I already ate earlier, but I think I will drink a cup of tea with you." He took two mugs from a cupboard, and walked over to the table and began pouring tea from the pot standing there, then sat down on the low divan. "Will you sit here with me while we talk?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, of course." She looked around the room. "I've never actually been to your quarters before, but I can access Jolinar's memories of them - this is different."

"You mean smaller." He gave her a somewhat sad smile. "We attempted to make our quarters look as similar to what they were before as we could, but only mated Tok'ra usually have large quarters."

She smiled at him, feeling sorry for him. It was obvious he had not enjoyed this extra reminder that his mates were dead. Of course, Jolinar no longer was, and she and Sam hoped Martouf and Lantash would be their mates... which was one of the things they needed to talk about.

"Martouf... and Lantash..." She took their hand, and squeezed it, thinking about how to say what she wanted to say. She sighed, and decided to start with something else, instead of her emotions. "I don't know if you were told, but Jolinar is not going to get punished for, ah, taking an unwilling host."

"Because you will remain her host, and the Tok'ra would never want to punish the victim," Martouf observed, matter of factly.

"Yes, that too, but that is not the only reason... it is also because I told the Council that I am not angry at Jolinar, and that I consider what she did... a mistake. An act of panic. I don't blame her. Not anymore."

Martouf looked relieved. "Thank you." He bowed his head, giving Lantash control.

"What she did was very much against what we Tok'ra believe in, and Jolinar should not have done it, regardless of the situation." He sighed. "However, if you can forgive her, then so can we. I am certain she will blame herself more for that than anyone else ever could."

Sam gave him a half-smile. "She does blame herself a lot, and fear you will never forgive her, and that you no longer love her."

"We could never stop loving her. I hope you can make her realize that."

Sam nodded. "I already told her, but I'm sure it will help if you tell her yourself." She frowned. "Another thing... Netu. Jolinar had never wanted you to know about what happened there, and... what she had to do. That's just one more thing that causes her to worry that you don't love her anymore. _Lantash_... as I told you and Martouf on Netu, she _loves_ you. Very, very much."

"She did what she had to do - however much I wish she had not had to do it. We are not angry at her for _that_. However, we are... _saddened_ she trusted us so little, that she would not tell us about it. _That_ is what hurts, that she would not tell us what she did, what she had to do... how can we trust _her_ completely, when she would not trust _us_? When she would not want our help?"

Sam thought about how to explain. "Part of it is... that she simply didn't want to even _think_ about it. The whole experience on Netu was something she wanted to _forget_. Another reason was that she _really_ didn't want to risk you getting angry at her - if nothing else, then for doing this to Rosha. Yes, thinking clearly, she _does_ know you would have understood, but sometimes your heart does not listen you your mind, and all she really wanted, _needed_ was your love, and to forget all about Netu."

Lantash was quiet for a long time, then he nodded. "Then we will not talk about it. Please assure Jolinar that we love her, and that there is nothing to forgive. For anything. All we want are to have you and Jolinar as our mates, Samantha. We realize you may not be ready to move here to the tunnels, and we accept that..."

"Lantash..." Sam interrupted him. "Jolinar isn't the only one who loves you... I do too... and I... I actually did, even before her... resurrection, and our... unexpected blending. I just hadn't really admitted it to myself."

"You love us?" Lantash got an expression of disbelief, then suddenly smiled. "You have _no_ idea how happy it makes us to hear that!" He pulled her closer, and leaned in to kiss her. "Very, _very_ happy." He kissed her, slowly moving his lips against hers.

Sam embraced him tightly and returned the kiss, then pressed her tongue against his lips. He parted them for her and she pushed her tongue inside, deepening the kiss. Lantash pulled her onto his lap, and began caressing her, running one hand down her back, and the other up her side.

After some minutes, Sam felt his kisses and caresses change subtly, and she knew Martouf now held her. He pulled at her clothing, and slid a hand under her shirt, and up to cup her right breast.

When she pulled back a minute or so later, Martouf looked at her, concern mixing with lust. "I... I apologize, I did not mean to..."

Sam smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry, Martouf, you didn't overstep your bounds, or anything, it's just that Jolinar has just woken up... and she would very much like to talk to you."

"Of course."

She bowed her head, and Jolinar came fore.

"Martouf? Beloved?" She gave him an uncertain smile. "I... have looked through the most recent memories of Samantha's... you forgive me? For... Netu... Samantha..."

"Jolinar." He smiled softly at her. "Yes. I know you did some... regrettable things... like taking Samantha as your host without asking. However, she has forgiven you, and if she can do that, then so can Lantash and I. As for Netu... there is nothing to forgive. We will not talk of it again... just remember, if you need to talk - about this or anything else - you can always come to us, we will always be there for you."

Jolinar nodded, then hugged him hard to her. "I love you so much. Both of you... as does Samantha!"

"As we love you both." Martouf held her to him, happier than he could remember being in a very long time. He and Lantash had their Jolinar back - and Samantha had agreed to be their mate as well.

Life was good.

THE END.


End file.
